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Chancellor announces extra cash for infrastructure and housing

23rd November 2016

Extra money for infrastructure and housing was a key element of the Autumn Statement for the construction sector.

Chancellor Philip Hammond said a new National Productivity Investment Fund of £23 billion will be created. While some of this will feed into areas like scientific development and business efficiency, there will also be more spent on building up Britain's infrastructure to equip it for a post-Brexit world.

Mr Hammond said overall government spending would be higher, including on infrastructure, with this rising by 1-1.2 per cent of gross domestic product each year, compared with the current 0.8 per cent.

Housing and housing infrastructure will be key beneficiaries of this spending. A total of £2.3 billion will be spent on infrastructure designed to support new housing, which will free up land for the development of an extra £100,000 dwellings. This will mean new homes can be built in places where their construction and the consequent local population rise would otherwise put too much strain on local amenities and transport systems.

In addition, £1.4 billion will be spent directly on building affordable homes, including some for shared ownership, with £1.7 billion to go on speeding up the divestment of public sector land for housebuilding.

There will also be £1.1 billion for work on roads and other transport schemes across England, plus £220 million for pinch points on the road network and £27 million to start work on a fast link between Oxford and Cambridge.

It is not just in England that new spending on infrastructure is expected to rise.

The government has allocated an extra £800 million to Scotland, £400 million to Wales and £250 million to Northern Ireland, with the devolved administrations deciding where and how most of this money will be spent.

Some of this money will be spent in city deals, with these already confirmed for Inverness and Aberdeen. Negotiations are taking place with Edinburgh and Swansea, while the cities along the Tay Valley - Perth and Dundee - have been invited to apply for their own deals.